T-Mobile representatives explained in a meeting with FCC staffers its stance on exempting 5G network slicing from proposed net neutrality rules (see 2401310046). “T-Mobile emphasized that it is not asking the Commission to create a wholesale exemption from open internet rules for services powered by 5G network slicing,” said a filing posted Monday in docket 23-320. But some services that network slicing supports “are so specialized and distinct from general-purpose broadband” that they warrant updating the commission’s list of examples of non-broadband internet access services, T-Mobile said. T-Mobile cited as examples massive machine-type communications that support the IoT and ultra-reliable and low-latency communications supporting mission-critical services. “Updating the Commission’s examples of non-BIAS data services to reflect these technologies will give the industry greater certainty and help foster investment and innovation in these new service offerings,” the carrier said.
The FCC Wireless Bureau sought comment Monday on Echodyne’s pursuit of a five-year extension of its waiver of rules allowing ground-based use of its EchoGuard radar, which detects objects on the ground and in the air, using the 24.45–24.65 GHz band (see 2402090064). Comments are due March 27, replies April 11, in docket 17-352. A 2019 waiver expires June 12 (see 1906130051).
Nokia said Monday its cloud radio access option, anyRAN, will be available commercially this year. “Last year, we launched anyRAN to give our customers more flexibility with Cloud RAN and we have since made huge strides in making Cloud RAN a commercial reality by completing numerous pilots and trials with the wider industry,” said Tommi Uitto, Nokia president-mobile networks. “We are now extending our reach to private wireless by offering more choices on core with our industry partners,” he said.
The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation called on regulators to rethink their spectrum sharing approach, refocusing on a top tier providing licenses for full-power use of a band, with reliable access at all times. “The dichotomy between dynamic spectrum sharing and exclusive licensing is a false one,” ITIF said in a report released Monday: “Reliable, full-power access is possible within a dynamic sharing framework if the FCC auctions super-priority rights to commercial users.” ITIF cited the model provided by the citizens broadband radio service band, which offered three tiers, with priority access licenses (PALs) sold in an FCC auction, with lesser rights than the incumbent Navy systems the rules are designed to protect. “We should not confuse the particulars of that band with the principles of the dynamic sharing system,” the report said. “In a band with significantly fewer incumbency interests, rights amenable to proponents of exclusive, shared, and unlicensed spectrum can coexist within a dynamic sharing system with only a minor alteration: Instead of just protecting incumbents and auctioning PALs that are secondary to the incumbents’ rights, the FCC should also auction licenses for the same type of rights the Navy has in the CBRS band.” ITIF noted widespread industry criticism of how CBRS works. Part of the reason “for decrying CBRS is that it should hardly qualify as ‘sharing’ when the federal incumbent retains the right to do whatever it wants whenever and wherever it wants,” the report said. ITIF noted there have been no reports of Navy systems suffering harmful interference since CBRS was launched. “Any party that thinks the Navy has reliable, full-power access in the current CBRS band should leap at the opportunity to get the same deal in another band,” ITIF said.
Spectrum for the Future, which represents companies and groups focused on unlicensed spectrum, Monday countered wireless carrier arguments that the lower 3 GHz band should be allocated for full-power, licensed use. “First and foremost, the U.S. wireless carriers’ current mid-band spectrum holdings exceed the amount of spectrum dedicated to wireless carriers in China and in many European countries,” the group said. The U.S. has already allocated hundreds of megahertz of mid-band spectrum at 3.65-4 GHz to U.S. carriers, “whereas China has not yet allocated that spectrum,” the group said: “The mobile network operators want you to believe there is a binary choice -- clear the spectrum for our companies or lose to China, or Europe or somebody else.”
Supplemental coverage from space applications should show how those deployments would support 911 call and text routing to the geographically appropriate public safety answering point with sufficient location information, Intrado said. In a meeting with FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington's office recapped in a docket 22-271 filing Monday, company officials said some SCS 911 calls and texts will need to be routed to a nationwide 911 relay call center that can retrieve the location from the handset or ask the user verbally for the location and the nature of the emergency, they said.
AT&T CEO John Stankey apologized for last week’s outage, which affected about 75% of customers (see 2402220058), in a Sunday employee letter, saying, “No matter the timing, one thing is clear -- we let down many of our customers, including many of you and your families." AT&T will immediately credit customers for a full day of service, he said. In addition, Stankey said the company’s ongoing review indicates the culprit was “application and execution of an incorrect process used while working to expand our network.”
CTIA told the FCC “the record strongly supports” its request for a 12-month extension (see 2401090026) of the FCC's six-month deadline for carriers to implement rules protecting consumers from SIM swapping and port-out fraud. “The record also makes clear that a workable compliance deadline serves the public interest,” CTIA said, in a filing posted Monday in docket 21-341: “CTIA shares the Commission’s goals of fraud prevention and security for consumers and business customers.” The FCC “significantly underestimated the time needed for industry compliance with the new SIM swap and port-out fraud rules,” the Competitive Carriers Association said. Meeting a six-month deadline “would be a significant challenge to even the largest nationwide carriers” and most CCA members are “smaller carriers with extremely limited resources and often over-extended staff multitasking on multiple projects,” CCA said. NCTA also supported CTIA’s petition, saying the new rules “will require the development of new authentication procedures, new customer notifications, and new recordkeeping, among other things.” Covered companies “will have to undertake significant employee training efforts,” NCTA said. Replies to oppositions were due Friday at the FCC.
AT&T has started deploying Ericsson cloud radio access network technology on its network, the companies said Monday. AT&T announced in December a five-year contract with Ericsson worth as much as $14 billion for open RAN (see 2312050049). “The two companies have completed a Cloud RAN call as a milestone in deploying Open RAN,” said a news release: “AT&T now has commercial traffic flowing on Cloud RAN sites, the first ones of which are located south of Dallas. … The configuration used for the Cloud RAN call has been deployed in the AT&T network, and third-party vendors will be able to use this configuration for Open RAN in the future.”
Rural Wireless Association representatives raised concerns with aides to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel about how the agency documents progress of the Secure and Trusted Communications Networks Reimbursement Program. The program is aimed at removing unsecure gear from telecom networks. Congressional reports fail “to accurately depict the current state of the Reimbursement Program by vastly underestimating how much participants have spent … to date,” said a filing posted Friday in docket 18-89. The reports “have only mentioned the total monies that have been reimbursed to program participants, which is significantly lower than the total spending that program participants have incurred to date,” RWA said: “Many program participants have been forced to file modifications due to the lack of funding and such modifications have slowed the submission of invoices, which would further demonstrate costs already incurred by participants.” Moreover, RWA is frustrated that the latest reports seem to blame program participants for delays, the filing said.